The World Sikh Organization of Canada (WSO) expresses concern over Indian Prime Minister’s widely reported alarmist and shocking statements alluding to some mythical concentration of frightening terrorist forces among Canadian Sikhs.

India’s allegations of this nature need to be viewed in the context of their own intelligence operatives instigating trouble by manipulating gullible and unsuspecting members of Canada’s Sikh community. This fact is well documented by Mr. M.K. Dhar, former joint-director of India’s Intelligence Bureau, who had been stationed in Canada, for this very purpose, in the mid-eighties. One of the priorities of my desk was “to target the mainstream Canadian print and electronic media and sell the Indian side of the story” writes Dhar on page 294 of his book “Open Secrets”.

“India’s interference in Canadian affairs is not new, Canada had to expel four Indian diplomats in late 80’s for such activities,” said Gurpreet Singh Bal, President WSO Canada. They have repeatedly and brazenly demanded that Canada curtail the rights and liberties of its Sikh populations if they wished to do any business with India. While several instances of such meddling in Canadian internal affairs have become public, one can safely assume that ten times as many may have remained hidden from public view.

It is public knowledge now that even before Canada had entered into an information sharing agreement with them, India’s intelligence operatives were actively involved in information gathering and disruptive activities in Canada’s Sikh community and its local ethnic media.

India has made frantic efforts to slander and demonize Canada’s Sikhs in the weeks preceding every major anti-Sikh operation undertaken by India – including Operation Blue-Star in 1984 and the AI-182 disaster in 1985. “Until now this had been left to intelligence operatives. And now that India’s Prime Minister has chosen to jump into the fray, there is ample reason for Canadian Sikhs to feel apprehensive about India’s nefarious designs against them”, said Ajit Singh Sahota, Director of Administration WSO Canada.

WSO expects Government of Canada and its intelligence forces to be vigilant of the clandestine activities of the Government of India.